Thread by @Yascha_Mounk

The poll claiming that 38% of Americans won't drink Corona *because* of the virus is almost certainly fake news.

Here's why this story went so viral and what that says about our screwed-up media ecosystem.

My latest @TheAtlantic.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

[Thread.]

The origin of the story appears to be a press release from @5W_PR about a poll they did on Corona beer.

It finds that 38% of Americans wouldn't drink beer "under any circumstances now."

Note that this implies but does not necessitate a link to the virus.prnewswire.com/news-releases/…

In fact, if you look carefully, it's pretty clear that the press release is deliberately misleading:

* 38% appears to refer to the number of beer-drinking Americans who would not drink Corona for *any* reason.

* Only 4% of people regularly drinking Corona said they would stop.

To find out for sure, I contacted @5W_PR through all possible channels:

* Repeated phone calls.
* Emails to press contact.
* Tweets at the CEO and other leading staff.

Crickets.

When a PR Agency is that hard to reach, it's makes sense to assume that they are stonewalling you.

That is all the more remarkable as the CEO of 5WPR, @RTorossian5wpr, has actively been retweeting news stories that frame his poll as showing that 38% of Americans wouldn't drink Corona *because* of the virus.

UPDATE:

5WPR sent the whole list of Qs, some of which are much more explicit about the link between beer and virus:

* Is Corona related to the coronavirus?
* In light of the coronavirus, do you plan to stop drinking Corona?

But they haven't given me the results! I wonder why..

It's hardly shocking that executives at a PR Agency appear to be misleading the public.

What's more shocking is just how easily journalists at outlets including @CNN, @nypost, and @VICE let themselves be played by them.

Did the authors of these articles actually have access to the underlying data?

Can @CNN justify why its viral tweet, which is still up, claims that 38% of Americans won't drink Corona beer "because of the coronavirus"?

I've asked them for comment and am yet to hear back.

But it's much easier to point fingers at others than it is to examine our own behavior.

And the truth is that this story went so viral because it confirms prejudices that many of us hold in any case.

"38% of Americans believe something utterly stupid? Of course they do! 🤣🤣"

In fact, some of the comments that people tweeted along with this fake finding are truly disgusting.

This is on all of us, folks.

Please retweet my article @TheAtlantic!

And please be more skeptical of similar polls in the future!

[The End.]

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

@TheAtlantic See also another excellent write-up of the same topic by @aedwardslevy.

huffpost.com/entry/corona-b…